It's true that on many occasions guns are used for defensive purposes, but are there verifiable instances where assault weapons have been used for defensive purposes in suburban America?

One of the six pillars of character is RESPONSIBILITY. In my opinion, one major reason the Newton tragedy occurred is due to the mother's lack of responsibility. If Mrs. Lanza had carefully secured her legally purchased weapons in the home where an admittedly troubled son resided, the carnage could have been averted. I agree with Prager that the lack of character education and values instruction is the primary cause of senseless shootings, but nevertheless, the easy availablity of semi-automatic assault weapons DOES factor into the equation and deserves our society's urgent attention.

In the past, the NCAA has vacated wins when the offending school benefited from some type of unfair advantage. In the case of Penn State football, no such unfair advantage occurred. The NCAA cannot re-write history in its desire to punish Joe Paterno and school officials. The athletes who won those games over the years had absolutely nothing to do with the Sandusky scandal. Dennis is correct in his column, and I am surprised that so few journalists have expressed similar reasoning.

Shouldn't red flags go up when a private citizen like James Holmes buys so many guns and so much ammunition in such a relatively brief span of time?

The Trayvon Martin killing and subsequent hysteria is less about perceived racism against all blacks than about society's need to debunk the stereotype of the young black male as dangerous thug. Despite statistics indicating that a disproportionate number of young black males have been associated with crime, a huge percentage of young black males are in fact law-abiding and suffer because of the stereotype, as did Trayvon. Also, I believe the Trayvon Martin tragedy is chiefly about a man who made several lapses in judgment in his quest, not to protect his neighborhood, but to receive personal validation as a "hero". George Zimmerman has more in common with Tania Head (who fraudulently claimed to be a 9/11 survivor) than with racists.